Applications are currently being accepted for grants to preserve historical materials.

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission is accepting applications from organizations and individuals to help preserve historical documents.

Historical documents eligible to be preserved include records, photos, oral histories and other media.

The grants, through the Empowered History program, are available from $100 to $1,000 with no matching funds required.

“Empowered History aims to inspire and enable communities to preserve and share their history and engage community members with it,” according to a program release. “Funding will help protect and share the history and stories of communities, foster more connections to local history, and support efforts to preserve and share community history.”

The Pennsylvania State Historical Records Advisory Board in conjunction with those active in the Pennsylvania State Archives’ Community History Dialog initiative will review applications. The program concentrates on communities that have been previously “underrepresented in traditional archives.”

Grants are intended for preservation of history from individuals and organizations in their own communities. These applications will be considered more favorably than those from “archives and other repositories that hold a community’s collections.”

Grants are available for funding of programs that capture, preserve, or disseminate your community’s history. Eligible funding can be used for things such as archival boxes, folders, or other archival supplies; equipment to improve storage and environment; digital projects; support for community outreach intended to gather or encourage interest in a community’s history; educational materials; artistic expressions of the community’s history and exhibits.

Funding for organizations’ capital projects; general operating support; salaries; and endowments, prizes or awards are not eligible.

Funding for the grants is provided by National Historical Publications & Records Commission State Board Programming Grant to the Pennsylvania State Archives.

Application information is available online at bit.ly/EmpoweredHistory.

Applications are due by Jan. 31. Review of applications is expected to be completed by March 31.